Thread: what am i going wrong

When I strop, along with a light but firm pressure, I even apply a slight twist to the blade so that I do press down the edge onto the leather. However, the whole time, of course both the spine AND the edge make contact with the leather! As long as there is full contact, I do not worry much about too much pressure! You do need some pressure!

If your strop is "cupped" or lower in the middle, just bend the leather along its length to remedy the cupping. It's an easy fix.

There seem to be a lot of posts lately about applying pressure while stropping, mostly by newbies.

In my book that isn't right - the only pressure needed is roughly that of the weight of the blade itself, in other words the bare minimum to ensure proper edge and spine contact.

Excessive force leads to a less than stellar performance - it can even be detrimental.

Strops cup and crown, razors have kinks and warps - that's only natural. Lay a blade on a flat hone (not the tang part, just the blade in front of the heel stabilisers) and it isn't exactly unknown to see areas where the blade does not make contact. It's just a fact of life.

In my opinion the easy way out is to use an x-stroke to ensure that all the blade contacts the leather at one time or another - an x-stroke with minimal pressure, that is.

Regards,
Neil

For exactly the reasons Neil Miller stated, I always use an X stroke, even on a 3" wide strop, with weight of the blade pressure only. That way the whole blade gets equal contact.

what about a blade with a frown in it? might not be the strop

My experience matches what Birnando describes. One must use enough pressure to ensure good, firm contact with the edge. Flex in the strop is very beneficial. I've used such a technique for five years with my DOVO #41 razor and Illinois 361 canvas/leather strop. It has not needed honing once in that time. I've shaved with it on average about four times a week over that period.

When I started out I found the whole strop tension/blade pressure/contact and oh, don't cut your strop thing to be a "pat your head, rub your tummy" moment.
So I got out a trusty spring clamp and and clamped the swivel end of the strop to the top of the counter with the strop laying flat on top and parallel to the edge.
Maintaining a grip on the handle end for a little tension (it does not take much - set up with the handle off the edge of the counter) I could concentrate on the razor and my results improved immediately.

Learning how to shave with a straight razor requires lots of new skills.
This is why those first shaves take 45 minutes or longer (some times a lot longer)
For me the counter trick allowed me to break that process in to steps that are a little easier to master.

Smooth Shaving...